As I see it there is a bit more to the NSA snooping story than has been written so far. The missing link is not that far behind us.
I remember thinking during High School history, or perhaps it was earlier, that human nature should have led to an American monarchy. All the pieces seemed to be in place. Only one man, George Washington, was said to have stood in the way. Of all things this military leader could do, saying "No" to ultimate power was not something I would have bet on were I alive in those days.
Everything that followed, as well as some of the probable reasons for his reluctance, was driven by the memory of life under monarchy; driven by the desire to keep the freedom they had just won. You don't have to read that much of our history to see that those crafting our form of government intended strict division of power between the branches.
Slip a few hundred years forward and we find the current administration saying that those same crafters would not have feared giving such power to the president, that they did indeed do so. But just in case that doesn't work, they tell us the Congress also gave him such power.
I'm not quite clear on exactly how long the NSA snooping story gathered dust while the administration worked on its response strategy. I am sure though that part of that strategy most certainly included Meyers and Alito. Remember the Alito announcement in November? Remember the assertion that Alito needed to be in place quickly... by Christmas or so?
Three years the story sat, I believe thats what I've read. Three years to give the administration time to put the pieces in place and come up with an argument in defense.
In that time we may have seen some of their strategy fall apart. Certain paid story writers have been uncovered for example. Other parts of the strategy (Newsweek?) seem to have been on the job. Still, three years is a long time to stategize. I don't think we've gotten our monies worth.